US President Joe Biden's administration could "take action" against the Russian TV channel RT and the Sputnik agency if the US-funded Radio Liberty * (RS) stops operating in Russia due to the foreign media agent law.

This opinion was expressed in an interview with The New York Times by the former head of Radio Liberty, Jamie Fly.

“If the Russian leadership intends to continue in the same spirit, they should think about the implications for RT and Sputnik's work in the US,” Fly said.

According to Flay, the difficulties of Radio Liberty arose allegedly due to "pressure" from the Russian authorities.

RS Editor-in-Chief Daisy Sindelar also stated that the leadership of the Russian Federation is allegedly interested in the possible termination of the radio station in the country. 

“The Russian authorities are sending us a clear signal: they want us to leave the country,” she said.

Recall that the radio station, which receives funding from the US government, faces fines in connection with the violation of the requirements for labeling materials of foreign media outlets stipulated by Russian law.

The regulatory act on the status of a foreign agent for the media was adopted in the Russian Federation in November 2017, after Washington forced RT to register as a foreign agent. 

With statements about "retaliatory measures", a number of American media outlets are trying to push the Joe Biden administration to take tougher actions against Russia, said Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics at Moscow State Pedagogical University, in a conversation with RT.

“Only this can explain this statement,” the expert concluded.

A similar opinion was expressed in an interview with RT by Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior researcher at the Center for European Studies at the IMEMO RAS.

“This is a story in order to tune the new administration to specific anti-Russian actions.

Now opponents of the normalization of relations between the Russian Federation and the United States are looking for pretexts to immediately set such a tone of confrontation between the new American administration and Russia, ”he stressed.

The NYT publication also expressed the opinion that the "pressure" on Radio Liberty allegedly means that Russian President Vladimir Putin "decided to raise the stakes in the confrontation with Washington" immediately after the coming to power of the new American President Joe Biden.

In addition, Jamie Fly claims that "the Kremlin is taking advantage of the chaos in the US in the field of international broadcasting."

Fly did not explain what he meant by "chaos".

The material also does not mention the fact that in the United States, which proclaims freedom of speech as one of the main values, after the recent riots without a court decision, Donald Trump's accounts were blocked. 

  • Joe Biden

  • Reuters

  • © Jonathan Ernst

At the same time, American journalists ignore the fact that the law on labeling foreign media agents appeared in Russia long not only before Biden's inauguration, but also before the presidential elections in the United States and was a response to the actions of the American side.

In addition, Vladimir Shapovalov noted the bias of Fly's position.

"The American status of a foreign agent is much broader and more rigid than its Russian counterpart," he said. 

The expert recalled that it is the United States and Great Britain, as well as other Western countries, that actively suppress freedom of speech and pursue a repressive policy against Russian journalists, thereby violating the principle of freedom of speech.

The State Duma and the Federation Council also previously noted that the law was adopted as a response to the decision of the US authorities to register RT and Sputnik as foreign agents.

“Any encroachment on the freedom of the Russian media abroad does not and will not remain without strong condemnation, without a mirror reaction from Moscow,” said Dmitry Peskov, the presidential press secretary.

Recall that the United States was the first to decide to extend the law on foreign agents to the Russian media more than three years ago.

As a result, in order to fulfill the requirement of the American Department of Justice, RT America was forced to register in the United States as a foreign agent in November 2017.

“We have chosen the latter between the criminal case and registration.

With which we congratulate the American freedom of speech and all who still believe in it, "- noted then the editor-in-chief of RT Margarita Simonyan.

Attempts to apply censorship to the Russian media are regularly made in other Western countries as well.

So, in July 2020, the British shadow minister for culture, digital technology, sports and media, Joe Stephens, called for RT to de facto deprive RT of its broadcasting license in the UK, claiming that the channel's reporting was biased.

Journalist Andre Vlchek responded to her statement, noting that the real reason for such an initiative was probably that RT's work was contrary to the mainstream propaganda of the West.

At the same time, Vlcek recalled that the BBC, a news organization funded by London, itself broadcasts ideas from the government of the United Kingdom.

Radio Liberty, unlike the Russian media, purposefully did not fulfill the requirement of Roskomnadzor to label its content as created by a foreign agent, after which the events around the radio station “developed rapidly,” the NYT publication notes.

“There is a distortion here.

The reader may get the impression that Radio Liberty is taking a balanced position.

She takes an openly anti-Russian position on some issues, it is impossible to believe that she did not give a reason, "Vladimir Olenchenko stressed in a conversation with RT.

As for the "threat" to RT, voiced by Jamie Fly, in this case there may be an "element of unfair competition" due to the popularity of the Russian channel, Vladimir Shapovalov emphasized.

“It should be noted that, despite the obvious targeted and systematic pressure on RT and Sputnik from Western countries, including the United States, both in the United States itself and in other countries, the audience of RT and Sputnik is constantly increasing, since they are an alternative to Western media.

Russian media are perceived by a significant part of both American citizens and citizens of other countries as providing a more objective presentation of certain facts, unbiased, comprehensive, without hushing up, which is not typical for traditional American media, "Shapovalov emphasized.

  • Crowd of protesters outside the US Capitol

  • Reuters

  • © Leah Millis

In turn, Vladimir Olenchenko recalled that the American media could not adhere to an objective position during the presidential election campaign, during the transfer of power, as well as when covering key events within the country, such as rallies of BLM supporters.

“Against this background, RT and Sputnik looked favorably, as they took a balanced position.

This thesis about chaos is also associated with anti-Russian enthusiasm, ”the expert emphasized.

* Media recognized as a foreign agent by the decision of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated 05.12.2017.